


It Runs in the Family

by wtfoctagon



Series: supergirl oneshot series [5]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, directly after lillian luthor's arrest, im so fucking disappointed with this episode and this is what should've happened so here it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-03 00:04:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8688820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wtfoctagon/pseuds/wtfoctagon
Summary: “You’re a good actress, Miss Luthor. But you’re a better person.” Lena admires Supergirl’s hair, the blonde ringlets that would look innocent if not for the imposing figure. Coupled with the blue eyes, she’s the very image of angelic grace- Supergirl would make a very pretty woman, she thinks, if she even has a personal life outside of saving humanity from itself.“Funny. I always scored the top of my drama class.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> anger writing is surprisingly therapeutic. this is what should've been a part of the winding-down scenes in 2x08, written in a furor as soon as I finished watching- let's all just collectively repress the mon-el kiss now.

“I didn’t believe it for a moment, you know.”

Lena laughs as she sets her wineglass down on her desk, brushing back her hair when the draft comes whooshing from the balcony.

“Still not an entrance, but I have a feeling you’re never really going to come through the front door, are you?”

Supergirl walks into her line of view, hands on her hips, broad shoulders open to display her crest as always- that stupid, self-righteous crest that still haunts the back of her mind when she thinks of her brother.

Lex had it coming, of course, but still- she can’t get rid of the memory of Lex’s trial, and the way Superman stood there, with that crest, the symbol of everything that had destroyed the brother that she loved. The resentment, illogical, dark, sits in her chest like a shameful scar and she thinks maybe everyone’s right about her.

“You’re a good actress, Miss Luthor. But you’re a better person.”

Lena admires Supergirl’s hair, the blonde ringlets that would look innocent if not for the imposing figure. Coupled with the blue eyes, she’s the very image of angelic grace- Supergirl would make a very pretty woman, she thinks, if she has a personal life outside of saving humanity from itself.

“Funny. I always scored the top of my drama class.”

When she looks up after a long sip of her wine, she wishes that this damned hero wouldn’t fix her with such a- such a- for fuck’s sake, she doesn’t even have a word for it- she hates the intensity in those blue eyes, looking at her like she’s some sort of wounded child in need of a hug.

She expected anger, she expected some patronizing, but this is worse. This- _compassion_ , she doesn’t want it, she just wants to be able to drink in peace to mourn losing yet another family member to some insane manifesto of self-righteous evil.

“I’m sorry.”

Lena laughs. “What do you have to be sorry about?”

“Your mother.” She says it so seriously- still looking at her with that same, too-intense _faith_ , and Lena tries to drown herself in her next gulp of wine.

“She was evil,” She says, as if it’s as simple as she wishes it could be. “She got arrested, and for good reason; it’s not like she’s dead.”

Supergirl sighs and leans against her wall, too familiar, too much like Lex used to on days when Lena was being particularly difficult.

“It’s not easy when people you love aren’t who you thought they were.”

Lena has the sudden urge to throw her wineglass across the room, because as much as she hates it, tries not to think about it, it’s true- she loves her mother. Through all the disappointment and neglect and betrayal she still loves her mother and when Supergirl looks at her with those big, teary, kind blue eyes she remembers what the alien said about parents and she turns away.

Pity, she can handle. It’s all that's been afforded to her by strangers her entire life, after all.

But this understanding? Relating? There’s only one other person who’s tried to understand her without judgement, and Lena’s not sure she’s ready to expand that exclusive circle to two people.

“The only time you weren’t acting was when you turned the key.”

Lena remembers the moment- unexpected emotion welling up in her, unable to stand the way that Supergirl was pleading with her, the way that her mother finally let her in after she pretended to give into some god-awful Cause-

_“I’m a Luthor, after all.”_

It’s an accusation. An angry retort at the world that’s framed her as nothing more than her brother’s sister and her parents’ child, a dare for anyone to prove her wrong and say no, she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that, no, her welcome to the world or with her family shouldn’t be conditional- no, she gets to be her own person and still be loved by someone.

“Miss Luthor, do you know what the symbol on my chest means?”

Lena gives it a cursory glance before waving her hand lazily.

“S for Super, isn’t it? Same as your cousin?”

Supergirl shakes her head, and Lena’s drunk enough to let the sway of blonde ringlets shoot butterflies into her chest.

“It’s our family coat of arms. It represents our pride, our strength in unity, the history of our clan. When I first stepped out into the city in this uniform, it made me feel so…. Proud, so strong, like I was carrying on a noble tradition.”

Lena scoffs. How lucky, to have that pride not be misplaced- she remembers how infectious it is, she remembers the day that Lionel Luthor walked her and Lex into the Luthorcorp building, being presented to her inheritance, the legacy being handed to her.

She’s going to have to struggle with the unbridled happiness of that moment her entire life.

“Why are you telling me this?” she says, not bothering to keep the ground glass out of her voice.

Supergirl then crosses her arms, almost hugging herself, covering the emblem looking almost- vulnerable.

“Because my father, on my home planet, before it was destroyed- he made the virus. I always  thought he was a scientist who saved lives- now I know that his idea of saving lives meant murdering anyone he didn’t think was worth saving.”

Lena looks up to meet Supergirl’s eyes then, because that sounds _so_ familiar, almost exactly like her life story- crystal blues look back with such sadness and Lena knows that this woman, this alien, somehow understands her better than anyone in the world.

It’s kind of unnerving.

“Why are you here, Supergirl?” It’s hardly a question, more a demand. Supergirl straightens up again, does that annoyingly attractive chin lift that she does, cape trailing behind her movements so dashingly.

“Because I didn’t get a chance to thank you earlier tonight.”

Lena rolls her eyes, taking another sip. “Just doing my part as a good citizen. No need to thank me.”

“You’re a Luthor before you’re a citizen of this city.”

The metaphorical sound of shattering glass in her chest must have shown on her face because Supergirl takes an eager step forward, uncrossing her arms, urgently adding;

“I didn’t mean it like- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

She tries to take the apology, she really does- Supergirl is eager, honest, and she really probably doesn’t mean it the way she took it but all Lena can imagine is Superman saying the same thing to Lex, in the same positions, on the days before Lex would try to kill him on sight.

“Then how _did_ you mean it, Girl of Steel?” she says, and oops, she doesn’t keep the edge out of her voice again, how terrible.

“I meant that- I know how hard it must have been. When I came to see you, I saw how hard it was for you to come to terms with what you already knew- you didn’t want to know, you didn’t want it to be true.” She steps forward again, hands gesticulating vaguely, as if she’s not sure what to do with them. “You didn’t have to pretend to go along with the plan. You didn’t have to be there to see her true side in person.”

Lena takes a deep, shuddering breath, and thinks to herself for the umpteenth time how much she hates Supergirl’s kindness, her open forgiveness.

“If I’d called the police on her, she’d just have gotten away and hatched another plan. She’s slippery like that. It runs in the family,” she adds, trying to wash away the bitterness in her mouth with the last dregs of the wine.

“That doesn’t change how hard it must have been for you,” she says, quietly, almost ardently, and Lena closes her eyes to stop the burning in her chest from showing through.

“So,” Supergirl whispers. “Thank you.”

And like that Lena’s on her feet, arms crossed over her chest, trying to keep the heaving breaths in, turning away to somehow get away from the alien’s piercing eyes, afraid that she could see with her x-ray vision the roiling anguish in her ribcage and the roaring behind her eyesockets.

“I have lost _everyone_ ,” she forces out, the shuddering of her chest shaking her words uncomfortably like a stammer. “My father, Lex, my mother- and all I have left is a company and a name that was used to _kill._ ”

She turns to face Supergirl again, eyes burning, teeth clenched against the sobs straining in her throat because _no_ , she will not cry, not over losing villainous maniacs who threatened innocent lives-

“You can acknowledge your family for what they’ve done without forsaking who they are to you. You don’t have to disavow the people you love to be who you decide you are, Lena Luthor.”

The words filter through her mind slowly, one by one like weighted stones- and for the first time since Lex locked her out of his heart, made a mark on the world with his hate, the name doesn’t feel like a jailor’s brand. In the mouth of this- this _alien_ it's  _hers_ again, the way it was when a smiling boy had first hugged her and called her his little sister.

She blames it on the wine, she blames it on the adrenaline of the night, but with those kindred eyes beckoning and the arms reaching out in comfort, in compassion, in sympathy elevated from pity by understanding and _respect_ \- Lena lets herself collapse into Supergirl’s arms, lets the cries in her chest push their way through her stubbornness.

The Girl of Steel is soft against her, strong arms coming to rest around her gently.

“You’re not alone.”


End file.
